IT was a painful return to Leichhardt Oval for the Wests Tigers on Sunday.

Captain Robbie Farah fractured his hand and faces the prospect of missing State of Origin III, while under-fire coach Jason Taylor is desperately trying to repair a fractured season.

Farah busted his hand early in the second half of his side’s 35-12 loss to Penrith and was rushed from the ground immediately afterwards and taken for X-rays.

He is now in doubt for the Origin decider on Wednesday week, with in-form Cronulla hooker Michael Ennis on standby.

After battling on gamely, a clearly pained Farah finally came from the field in the 76th minute. Scan results will be known on Monday morning.

“He has some sort of fracture in his hand, which he did early in the second half,” Taylor revealed.

“Robbie came off when he got to the point where he just couldn’t go any further. He said he was pretty much a passenger for most of the second half.

“He left straight away, he is obviously very keen to know the outcome. He didn’t have a shower.”

Farah wasn’t the only Tiger in pain.

Taylor was on the receiving end of some friendly fire from fans after a failed positional switch helped Penrith to four second-half tries.

Fans in the Latchem Robinson stand turned to Taylor in the coach’s box and hurled abuse after he switched back-rower Kyle Lovett to left centre when Tim Simona came off with an ankle injury.

Lovett missed crucial tackles which allowed Penrith to score five tries down that edge, four of them going Panthers winger David Simmons.

Fans wanted Taylor to move Chris Lawrence — a noted speedster — back to centre, and they let their feelings be known. Eventually Lawrence was shifted to his former position, but the damage was done.

“They (Penrith) were smart because Tim Simona got injured and we moved Kyle Lovett out to the centres,” Taylor said.

“I was really reluctant to move Chris Lawrence there because he has done so well since moving into the back row.

“I wanted to keep him comfortable in that position.

“I don’t want to go into the details of it but it wasn’t just about Kyle being there. There was some breakdown in our systems defensively.

“Everyone will think it was the reason but there was more to it than that. I know you guys (media) will write that was where the game was won and lost but it wasn’t.”

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary admitted his side targeted the Tigers’ left side.

“When they lost Simona, that made that edge a bit more vulnerable. I thought (Penrith centre) Dean Whare was very dangerous today,” Cleary said.

The Tigers have won just five of 15 games this year as their season slips away. Disgruntled Tigers fans started walking out on Sunday with 10 minutes remaining.

The Tigers led 12-10 at half-time before Penrith scored 25 unanswered points. The Panthers led after 30 minutes through a lovely try to powerful winger Josh Mansour.

The try though was tinged with controversy after Panthers fullback Dallin Watene-Zelezniak appeared to knock-on when fielding a kick. The ball looked to propel forward but referee Gavin Badger ruled play-on.

Mansour scored moments later, much to the frustration of a vocal Leichhardt Oval crowd, which totalled 14,234.
Farah protested to Badger about the decision as he left the field at half-time.

There was a scuffle as players left the field at the break with Badger putting Tigers halfback Luke Brooks on report for an alleged headbutt on Penrith’s Jeremy Latimore.

Badger didn’t report Brooks straight away, instead doing so as players ran out for the second half.

The crowd heckled Badger all game. The penalties were 8-4 to Penrith at one stage.

“We were down 12-10 at half-time but I thought we were playing better footy,” said Cleary.

The match started in unusual circumstances when Penrith kicked-off and Wests Tigers prop Aaron Woods was taking the first hit-up.

Play then stopped suddenly because Badger hadn’t actually blown the whistle to begin the game. Sunday’s match was Wests Tigers prop Keith Galloway’s 200th in the NRL.

That was just an unbelievable train of thought. Not moving Lawrence back to centre was probably the dumbest and most arrogant coaching plan I've heard. Even given Lawrence is probably the worst centre in the game, he's still a better option than a rookie second rower playing against an NZ international.

As I said earlier, he was on a hiding to nowhere whoever he put into centre. Lawrence, and if he got lit up, which was most likely, he would be burned alive for putting someone not up to it there... Lovett, and well we know how that went.

I dont know why he didnt adjust and swap Chris in there alot earlier... lost me

But there is an old saying "never weaken one position to strengthen another", maybe in a compliment to Chris' new found form he is rated better in the backrow than Lovett, and thus the one to make the shift.

Even still I cannot make sense of it, or how rigidly he stuck with it once exposed so easily and consistantly. Was quite the shambles.

wd in perth wrote:That was just an unbelievable train of thought. Not moving Lawrence back to centre was probably the dumbest and most arrogant coaching plan I've heard. Even given Lawrence is probably the worst centre in the game, he's still a better option than a rookie second rower playing against an NZ international.

Black'n'White wrote:As I said earlier, he was on a hiding to nowhere whoever he put into centre. Lawrence, and if he got lit up, which was most likely, he would be burned alive for putting someone not up to it there... Lovett, and well we know how that went.

I dont know why he didnt adjust and swap Chris in there alot earlier... lost me

But there is an old saying "never weaken one position to strengthen another", maybe in a compliment to Chris' new found form he is rated better in the backrow than Lovett, and thus the one to make the shift.

Even still I cannot make sense of it, or how rigidly he stuck with it once exposed so easily and consistantly. Was quite the shambles.

BnW, probably the most sensible thing written on this forum tonight. Please take 2 panadol and go to bed.

Black'n'White wrote:As I said earlier, he was on a hiding to nowhere whoever he put into centre. Lawrence, and if he got lit up, which was most likely, he would be burned alive for putting someone not up to it there... Lovett, and well we know how that went.

I dont know why he didnt adjust and swap Chris in there alot earlier... lost me

But there is an old saying "never weaken one position to strengthen another", maybe in a compliment to Chris' new found form he is rated better in the backrow than Lovett, and thus the one to make the shift.

Even still I cannot make sense of it, or how rigidly he stuck with it once exposed so easily and consistantly. Was quite the shambles.

BnW, probably the most sensible thing written on this forum tonight. Please take 2 panadol and go to bed.

Ryan, we should all heed your advise on taking pain killers and beddy byes. it's been a tough few hours. Time to close our eyes and dream of better times to come, for the WT.